[Child of God]: 416.Famous First Lines - Contest.Redemption Rejected

The wind was howling around the corners of the buildings, whistling between trees, bending the flagpole sideways, and generally making going outside a really bad idea, when I got the notice. Disbelief clearly portrayed all over my face, I sat down reading the notice over again:
 
Your Most Urgent Attention Is Requested:

It is required that you be present to participate in a lesson on redemption. Apologies are offered for any inconvenience which may arise from this. Transportation to and from the demonstration will be provided at no cost to your person. You will be transported shortly after receiving this.

Thank you for you time and cooperation.

I wasn’t sure what to think. Was this a hint at a murder? A joke? Wrong address? A figment of my imagination? ‘This is definintly something you don’t see everyday . . . a lesson on redemption? What do I need to know about redemption?’
Reaching into the bottom shelf of coffee table beside my chair, I pulled out the latest Webster’s Dictionary. Scanning through the pages briefly, I find the section I’m looking for:

Redemption: The act of redeeming, or the state of being redeemed; repurchase; ransom; release; rescue; deliverance . . .

Raising an eyebrow, I tossed the book aside. “Lesson over! Thank you, please come again!”
Just then, a knock came at the door. Groaning, and slightly irritated, I made it to my feet and shuffled in the direction of the sound. The shape of a man could be seen through the treated window, but his face almost looked distorted through the glass. When the view wasn’t improved by a rub of the sleeve, I frowned as I turned the doorknob. ‘Gonna half to get someone to look at that.’ Opening the door, I found myself looking at a very different sight than what I had seen through the door window; a construction site met me! Blinking, I looked back but my doorway, my house, my street even, had vanished. It was so though I had been, literally, transported in the blink of an eye to this construction site in the middle of the night! ‘Ok . . . no more curry and rice for supper . . .’

For some reason, I was drawn to a building a few steps in front of me. Creepy as it was, it felt as if something, or someone, were attempting to push me gently forward, as though trying to direct me to the building. ‘What the hell? Lets see how weird this actually gets so I can see how much help I need to invest in when I get back to reality.’ As I approached, I noticed that there were no doors entering into the building, only an elevator door. Shrugging, I pushed the button and entered into the elevator. As soon as the door closed, it seemed as though the cord snapped and the elevator just fell. It stopped suddenly, and when the door opened, it was as though I were invisible, watching a scene play out. The room was dimly lit and clearly a good distance underground. The floor was made of a very tightly packed dirt, and beside the elevator was a stairway that led upward. Coming out of the elevator, the door closed and seemed to disappear into the wall behind me. A fully fuctional ATM was to my left, and in front of me and to the right was a layout that looked like a cheap apartment. There was a living room, in which I found myself in, with a nasty-looking couch and table, then a hallway. If you follow the hallway, there were two rooms on the right and one at the end of the hallway, the master bedroom.

Inside the bedroom was a girl, who looked like her spirit was broken and that she had been here for a while. A male voice, sounding like it was coming from beside me though no one was there, told me that she had been captured by a creature that enjoys torturing his victims for months, before either releasing them or killing them. This girl has been here the longest, over 6 months. Her spirit is broken, she's lost all hope and she now looks forward to her daily beatings.
“How can this could be so, there was a stair way in which she could escape!” I asked my unseen companion.
He told me she had tried to escape before a few times, but whenever she was caught her punishment had been worse. She had learned to accept, and even embrace what she thought was her fate. She had watched many girls come after her, all of which had died. She now considers herself almost a queen in this place, her master's favourite. She had helped him to torture, rape and kill some of these girls.

I looked at her, her long dark her matted, as she sat on the floor playing with a whip. He told me she was no longer a victim, but rather a guilty party.
"Surely she must feel some kind of remorse at the actions she does." I objected. "Whatever remorse or guilt is felt after the actions does not compensate for the pleasure felt while engaging in the act."
I argued back that is was only because she had lost hope, forgotten what it was like. She had learned what she needed to do to survive. This girl wasn't evil, she was broken. She needed healing, not condemnation.
"She has been offered healing and rejected it."
"I don't believe you." I told the voice.
Almost sorrowfully, he replied "See for yourself. Experience what happens when hope is lost."

Suddenly, I was visible.

The girl looked up and saw me. She stood quickly, droping the whip.
"So you are the new toy" she sneered, sizing me up and down. "You won't last long."
"Why do you do this?" I asked, backing up slowly.
"Why? Because I have no other choice. This is my life, I do what I must to survive." She spat, pushing past me.
"You have other options, there are other ways." I told her, following her the few steps into the living room. A large knife I hadn't noticed before was on the table. She picked it up and started looking it over.
"This is easier. There is less pain this way." She looked at me, her eyes were filled with pain and death. I felt like crying, being forced to see someone like that. "You will die. I will kill you, put you out of your pain when he is done with you."
"You don't have to. You can leave." I looked toward the stairs. When I looked back, she quickly brought the knife around and cut my cheek deeply.
"There is no escape bitch." She hissed. "Once you step into the elevator there is no escape. He will find you. He will bring you back, torture you until you pass the point of begging for death to the point that you beg for more." She licked my blood off the knife blade.
"No, once you escape there are places you can go, people you can turn to. You can leave him behind. You can go where he cannot follow you."
"BITCH!" She screamed, pushing me back into the couch and holding the knife to my face. "What the hell do you know?? Do you know what it's like to be here??? I've been here for eternity! I don't even remember what my old life was!!"

At those words, all the fear and hoplessness surfaced. I saw a scared child, lost and confused. She didn't want to have hope. To have hope in a hopless situation means that much more is lost when hope seems to vanish. The look was quickly lost though as she straightened up, looking down at me like a piece of meat.
"Hope is dead, hope is for the weak. There is no hope. When the choice is made, there is no going back. You have embraced death and all that comes with it." That moment, she internally killed that child, that last ounce of humanity and hope. I could see it in her eyes. I could almost see her soul die at that moment. For some reason, those words killed her, and all hope of redemption. "I'm going to enjoy hearing your dreams you cocky bitch. Your blood is going to taste so good."

Loud noises could be heard, heading quickly in our direction. The woman straightened in fear.
"He's coming!"
She ran back into her room and I pushed myself into a dark corner. The elevator door appeared from the wall and a huge man stepped out. His face was deformed, and even though the rest of his body looked like a man, his soul felt like it was a demon. He didn't seem notice me and stormed directly into the girl's room. She squeeled as it sounded like he hit her, then the two spoke where I couldn't understand what they were saying. The creature went into the master bedroom and shut the door, while the woman came back into the room.

"Pay me and you can leave" She indicated to the ATM in the one corner.
Baffled, I asked "How much?"
"$60 and you can try to escape without me stopping you."
I looked at her wearily, but felt as though I should do as I was told. "I'll come back with help."
"Don't bother. I won't leave."
I pulled out my wallet and went to the ATM. As soon as the money was dispensed, there was a yell from the Master bedroom, like he had heard the machine. She grabbed the money and pushed me to the stairs. "If come back I'll kill you." She told me, then ran into her room as the creature stormed out of his. I ran at the edge of the stairs but he tried to jump on me to stop me. For some reason though, he seemed to bounce off me and fall. Terror seized me, and I took the opportunity to run.. I ran up the stairs as he tried to grab me, kicking him in the head so he fell back down. He screamed and yelled but didn't follow me as I just get running up in the darkness, not stopping. Just when I thought I couldn't run anymore, I burst through a metal door and into the sunlight.

I was back construction lot and quickly shut the metal door behind me. Taking a second to take a breath, there was pounding on the door behind me, causing me to jump in fear and start to shake. Backing away from the door, I bumped into someone behind me, causing me to almost wet myself. I freaked out as two arms surrounded me, but a soothing voice told me to calm down. Recognizing the voice and turning around, I hugged the man tightly just cried, releasing all the emotions generated from the experience. Once I calmed down a bit I told him
"We have to go down to help her!"
"Why?"
"She isn't that bad! She helped me escape! That must mean there is some good left in her!"
The man shook his head sadly, which made me mad. "You know she isn't a bad person! You know we have to help her!"
"Do you really want to see?" The man asked solomly
"See what??" I demanded.

Suddenly, I was back in that dreadful death chamber, but was invisible again. I could see the girl comforting the angry creature, but he roughly pushed her away. Disappearing into her room, she came back with a cat o nine in one hand, and a regular whip in the other.
"Which one would make master feel better?" She cooed.
He looked at her, his features now looking slightly distorted, like a holographic deformed face on top of animalistic, facial features, though you couldn't tell what animal.
He made some sort of noise and jumped on her, ripping both from her hand before throwing her on the couch.
"So you want to skip right to the fun part?" She asked seductively as he climbed on her.
I felt sick at the site and tried to look away, but was told to watch. "Don't worry, she was sent here by Him. I could tell, that's why I let her get away." The woman stroked his face at he tore at her body. "She would have hurt you. And I wouldn't want you hurt now would I?"

"She didn't let you leave because of any compassion or humanity left." The man told me as the scene in front of me faded and we were back in the construction site. "She wanted the money, greed, and the sex. That is what she sold herself for, what keeps her alive. Or so she thinks. Really, it is killing her. She has chosen her path, and now must face those consequences. She has rejected the redemption freely offered to her, and has sealed her own fate in doing so."
"I don't understand." I cried. "No one is beyond redemption."
"Those that refuse redemption, that choose to be beyond it, are."